If you've read my book On Time Delivery you will have come across the 'Big Brain' award I gave to one of my team members for his application of continuous improvement. He didn't use fancy techniques or methods he just used some common sense and stopped accepting the way things were.
No longer did he tolerate the capacity problems in his departments.
No longer did he accept the number of breakdowns that were occurring.
No longer did he live with the long tool changeover times.
Sometimes it is the smaller things that we can change that can have the greatest impact, and sometimes getting people to get involved is one of the hardest tasks.
A really simple way to get people involved, and great if you are starting any kind of lean manufacturing orientated project, is waste walking. Go for a walk through your business and spot the opportunities.
Waste walking is something I get emailed about quite often and so our waste walking kit is now available for download. The kit provides the workshop presentation, workbooks and accompanying worksheets. The kit can be purchased by clicking in the link at the top of this website, or by clicking here.
I hope that you find some small ideas in your business that can give big results too.
Giles Johnston
Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer